UNITED STATES—I recently had a conversation with a few family members at a small gathering and we talked about the past. How things used to be simple. When we did not have the internet, there was no social media and the biggest one of them all: no cellphones. Of course, the youngsters thought we were crazy discussing how cellphones are not vital to day-to-day operations. I mean at this family gathering it seemed like everyone was glued to their cellphone and it was not baffling, it was disturbing.
What is it about the cellphone that we just have this urge to have to have it by our side at all times? Please I want someone to tell me what is the purpose? It feels like we can’t be bothered to go a few hours, maybe a day, hell a week without the cellphone. You don’t have to check your email 24/7, you do not need to see who has tweeted, posted or released a video that has to be a must-see. What about those text messages? Why are you checking nonstop for messages? You are simply psyching yourself out and that is never a good thing.
I will be the first to admit this and say this loudly, I hate my cellphone. The cellphone brings more stress to my life than anything that I can imagine. It is like this psychological torture to look at the phone, even though I know there is no need for me to do it, I’m still doing it. We have been programmed by society that our cellphone is a must for daily operations. In the past, if my cellphone were to break, I felt this urgent need to fix it right away. Now, if it breaks it breaks. I’m not bending over backwards, I will get it fixed when time permits it.
Why? I find the greatest amount of peace when I don’t have to worry about a phone. I’m not thinking about who is calling me, who is texting me, who is emailing me and so much more. I actually have a moment of peace when I don’t think about my phone. I get the opportunity to breathe and decompress and that is something that I couldn’t say in years past. What does that say about us America? It says we are too dependent on technology and worst of all, we sometimes run into this situation where we use our phone as a crutch.
What do I mean by that? We get on our phone and play with for hours on end as a distraction. We’re on our phones at lunch, we’re on our phones at work, we’re on our phones watching TV or watching a movie. We don’t live in the moment because we are so focused on things inside the phone that nothing else seems to matter, but our cellphone and lives are being dictated by that. There are people who want to be glued to their phones, I’m not one of those people and I have no problem saying that to people. If I’m not scheduled to work, you should not think I have my cellphone right next to me and I’m checking emails. I’m not on the clock, I’m not working it is that simple.
That is another issue with the cellphone it forces people to be placed in this orbit where you’re expected to work, when you’re not expected to work, but people think you’re supposed to work. At the heart of this column is the fact that my cellphone is NOT my life, it never has been and it never will be.
Written By Jason Jones